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A recently published study finds that the current heat wave embroiling Europe would be “virtually impossible” were it not for human-made climate change.

The study from World Weather Attribution notes that, over the regions of the continent they examined, this heat wave is the most severe that has ever been seen, with nearly half of the cities and geographical areas observed breaking heat stress records. Heat stress occurs when the body is unable to cool itself through sweating.

“Climate change is to blame” for the heat wave that Europeans experienced, said Theo Keeping, co-author of the study and research associate at Imperial College London. “This heat wave would have been virtually impossible even 50 years ago without human-caused climate change.”

Hundreds of millions of people in Europe have been or are still being impacted by the heat wave. Temperatures would have likely been 3.5 degrees Celsius cooler (or about a 6 degrees Fahrenheit difference), on average, in 1976, the study suggests.

Heat is responsible for more deaths in Europe than all other natural hazards combined. Indeed, in the........

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